Allegations made by Rory Connor against John Cooney [Email to Alliance Support Victims Group]

Added on July 17, 2006
http://www.alliancesupport.org/news/archives/001322.html

May I refer to the allegations made by Rory Connor against John Cooney in relation to his biography of John Charles McQuaid? Rory Connor said "John Cooney made grotesque and unsubstantiated allegations against Archbishop McQuaid". It's quite clear that Rory Connor needs to catch up on the history of Archbishop McQuaid before springing to his defence with allegations. Ireland's dominant Catholic teaching Order, the Christian Brothers, commemorated the centenary of the death of its founder, Edmund Ignatius Rice, in 1944, McQuaid acclaimed Rice, "the Educator of Catholic Youth", as heir to the hedge schoolmasters linking Ireland to its ancient tradition of European culture. The Christian Brothers had 106 communities in Ireland and 159 in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. At a fundraiser in the Mansion House McQuaid donated £1,000 (a lot more today) for a House of Formation to train prospective Brothers while the Knights of St Columbanus raised £7,000 (a lot more today). The centenary celebrations took place as two senior Gardai at Dublin?s Fitzgibbon St station were prevented from pursuing allegations of abuse by two Christian Brothers of boys at Artane Industrial School. The Superior, the Rev Brother T.M. Lennane, and the school chaplain, Fr William Kenny, succeeded in hushing up a potential scandal with the assistance of McQuaid and Justice Minister Gerald Boland. In a climate of opinion hostile to prosecution of clergy, the two Gardai were told not to proceed with the case.